The only available recipe

• No quick fixes

Needless to emphasise that the disqualification of the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif by the Supreme Court has pushed the country towards a crisis situation and as it trundles along the clouds of uncertainty and gloom are lumbering around creating a worrisome situation for the masses. This is indeed a very regrettable situation. Make no mistake it is a sequel to the irresponsible behaviour of the politicians and their lust for reaching the corridors of power in complete disregard to democratic norms and the legal and constitutional provisions regulating political behaviour.

It is really ironical to note that the politicians and political parties who cry hoarse from every convenient roof-top to pronounce their democratic credentials and commitment to the national causes, are themselves the real culprits for undermining them. They have never allowed the democratic system to run smoothly and take hold in the country to orchestrate the systemic changes that the country badly needs to achieve its cherished goals. The formation of alliances and even solo efforts by the opposition parties to destabilise the sitting governments has been the norm whenever the country had a democratic dispensation interspersing the dictatorial regimes.

The prevailing scenario in the country is quintessential of this detestable phenomenon which has been repeated unabashedly to the chagrin of the people who are supposed to be the final arbiters in deciding who rules the country on their behalf.

In the context of the current situation, the main culprit has been the PTI and its chairman Imran Khan who shed his revolutionary credentials somewhere along the way and turned into a traditional politician hungry of grabbing political power without caring for the legitimacy of the means. He has betrayed the mandate given to him by the people by resorting to street politics, agitations and introduction of a culture of abuse and allegations in politics. He has hardly attended the parliament and has never participated in the legislative process. He continues to follow the same path notwithstanding the reversals that he has had to face regarding his allegations about rigging, abuse against the state institutions and defiance of the courts. He also has the stigma of being part of a conspiracy to topple the government in connivance with Qadri through the sit-in at Islamabad. He is surrounded by the elements which unfortunately also do not have irreproachable credentials and are regarded as carpet baggers by the masses. The only success he seems to have achieved is the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif which again is a sequel to a controversial process and can hardly contribute to change in the system of governance and end of corruption which Imran has been trying to sell to the masses.

He is nowadays focusing on early elections in the country believing that perhaps the atmosphere was favourable for his party to win the elections in the backdrop of the Panama verdict, while the other parties are not endorsing this demand, though for reasons of their own. Even this stance of Imran Khan is a self-contradiction and a visible somersault on a taken position by him. He has been accusing the ECP of being in league with the PML-N and saying that he would not accept the elections held under the current electoral set-up. How can he can demand elections under the same set up and have no problems with it? The fact is that his antics over the last four years have not helped in strengthening his credentials as an agent of change and an alternate leadership. In his public rallies that he has been holding recently he has indulged in excessive demagoguery rather than suggesting credible alternate solutions to the problems confronting the country and the systemic changes that would be required to consolidate the gains of democracy in the country. The country needs concrete plan of action and not rhetoric divorced from the ground realities.

The PPP another major political party and the opposition in the parliament also does not have an enviable record in regards to governance, particularly under Zardari and probably it was due to this reason that it was completely routed in Punjab which used to be the bastion of its political power. The chances of it bouncing back in the coming elections are very bleak and it would probably remain confined to Sind even after the next elections. The religious political parties are also not in a position to win an electoral victory at the federal level even with their combined strength if at all they agree to forge unity.

To an anodyne observer all of them are not a better alternative to the PML-N government. But as they say there is never a final word in politics and things can change dramatically due to unforeseen circumstances. However one also cannot close his eyes to the ground realities. The PML-N surely has an enviable record in tackling the inherited challenges. Terrorism has been checked in its tracks though sporadic incidents continue to happen; the economy is far better than it was in 2013, the energy crisis has been controlled and is likely to end by the next year; situation in Karachi and Balochistan has vastly improved. These are verifiable facts and do put the PML-N in a strong position to seek mandate of the people in the next elections.

The country can move forward through continuation of uninterrupted democratic process. However it needs to be understood that there are no quick-fix solutions to the problems confronting the country and the much trumpeted menace of corruption. Democracy is about evolutionary and durable change. The politicians must understand this once for all if they are really interested in strengthening democracy, having ascendency in taking decisions about matters of national interest and above all earning the respect of the masses. The culture of fomenting chaos for narrow political gains needs to be replaced by a nationalistic outlook and adherence to democratic culture, which is the only available recipe to put the country on the road to progress and earning a respectable place in the comity of nations.